Stranded
by Domina Temporis
Summary: On a routine mission, Kirk and Spock get stranded on a desert planet with only limited supplies. They, with the help of the Enterprise crew, are doing everything possible to get back to the ship but they're running out of time.
1. Chapter 1

"If this is such a routine mission, how come you don't send somebody else down to take the samples?" Dr. McCoy asked. He and Captain Kirk were on their way to the transporter room, even though the doctor steadfastly refused to go on the mission.

Kirk resisted the urge to roll his eyes and started to laugh, "It's a brand new planet, and no one's ever been there before. Why would I let someone else have all the fun? You could come if you want, you know."

"Jim, that planet's surface temperature _averages_ 100 degrees! Not _my _idea of a fun day. More like stepping into the sun," McCoy said.

Kirk laughed as they entered the transporter room, "Are you sure you grew up in the South, Bones, if you hate the heat that much? Mr. Spock, are you ready?"

"Affirmative, Captain," Spock answered. He had his tricorder slung over one shoulder and a small container to collect samples, as well as the supplies they would need for a day in the desert environment they would be entering.

"Good," Kirk said, turning to the intercom. "Everything all right on the bridge, Scotty?"

"It's all fine, Captain. Should be nothing but smooth sailing from here on out," Scotty answered.

"All right, let's get going then," Kirk said. "See you when we get back, Bones. Energize."

Arriving on the planet's surface was like stepping into an oven, at least to Kirk. He took several deep breaths, to accustom himself to the increased temperature. "Well, this is…hot," he said in a deadpan, looking around. They seemed to be in a valley of sorts; there were mountains in the distance all around them, but the area they had beamed into was flat and sandy. There appeared to be no vegetation in sight. Kirk held a hand up above his eyes, squinting into the distance. The air shimmered when he looked at it due to the heat. "I don't think there's even any snow on the mountaintops. Does this planet have an ocean?" It seemed difficult to imagine the presence of water on this arid surface at all.

"It has small pockets of water, however, due to their small size, they have an extremely high concentration of sodium. It is unlikely that any life beyond the hardiest plants have developed here," Spock answered, looking at his tricorder.

Kirk nodded in agreement, "Or even just simple, single-celled organisms." He picked up some of the reddish sand, "This is thick. The geology team will be very interested in these samples."

"Yes, much less finely grained than what is common on Earth. Or Vulcan," Spock said, putting the sand into a small bag inside his sample container.

"There might be some larger rocks closer to the mountains," Kirk said, pointing to the distance. He wanted to get moving, standing in one place made the heat worse. He felt like he was caught in a close orbit around a sun.

"That seems logical," Spock said, starting to head toward the mountains. Kirk struggled to catch up, catching Spock's eye with a grin when he finally did.

"You're used to this temperature. I'm not. Iowa barely reaches more than 90 degrees, and it doesn't maintain that for long. Besides, there's usually a breeze or something." It didn't feel like the air ever moved on this planet.

"Even Vulcan has more variance in temperature than this planet," Spock answered. "Wind storms of violent ferocity are not unheard of. The almost complete lack of oceans on this planet must account for the difference."

"Well, it is barely Class M," Kirk said. "Anything more extreme and we would have needed protective gear." He was grateful that wasn't the case; he'd used Starfleet's protective suits on more than one occasion and they were extremely difficult to maneuver, and very uncomfortable. The downside to this was that they had to deal with these temperatures with nothing.

Spock raised an eyebrow but said nothing, concentrating on recording the differences in air quality and temperature on his tricorder as they walked.

"What?" Kirk asked. "I know that look, Mister. Something on your mind?"

"Only that Doctor McCoy would undoubtedly say you were being reckless in accompanying me to such a planet. As you say, I am more physically suited for it."

Kirk laughed, "He'd probably be right. But what else are we doing out here if not to explore, to push our boundaries? To see what's out there, not with instruments or probes but with our own eyes, and feel it for ourselves? There's no greater privilege in all of history than that." Saying it allowed made him want to get moving; to concentrate on something rather than just stand here in the heat.

"Captain!" Spock cut him off, sounding almost alarmed.

"What is it?" Kirk asked.

"Some unusual atmospheric readings. They appear similar to an ion storm, but are not exactly the same."

Kirk looked up, "But we're not experiencing the effects of any ion storm."

"As I said, the readings are unusual," Spock said, fiddling with the tricorder. "They would require further analysis to determine what exactly they are."

Kirk wasted no time, "Kirk to _Enterprise._ Kirk to _Enterprise_."

No answer. They were cut off from the _Enterprise_ for no reason that they could tell.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's causing this, Spock?" Kirk asked, looking up at the perfectly clear sky. "There's no storm, no reason why we shouldn't be able to communicate with the _Enterprise_."

"I have no data with which to form a hypothesis, Captain," Spock answered, fiddling with his tricorder. He appeared almost frustrated with the lack of reliable information from his usually cooperative instruments. "I have never experienced a disparity of this magnitude between the readings and our own experiences."

"Could it be some kind of field that's only affecting the instruments?" Kirk asked. "Maybe something in the atmosphere that prevents communication with the ship?"

"In that case, we should have been unable to lock onto the landing coordinates and beam down to the planet's surface," Spock said. "This phenomenon appears to have begun soon after we arrived."

` "Can you try it on a different frequency?" Kirk asked, glancing up at the sky. The suns felt like they had moved closer in the time they had been there, it felt like it was about ten degrees hotter than when they had first arrived.

Spock changed the frequency several times, from the lowest registers to the highest. They received no response on any of them. "I can attempt to modify the communicators to transmit through the interference."

"I thought you didn't know what the interference was?"

Spock opened the communicator and began working on it. "I don't have sufficient data to determine exactly what is causing the disturbance, but the readings are similar to a powerful ion storm. I can make the same adjustments we would in that situation."

Kirk suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash over him that he was sure was connected to the heat. "That's fine, Mr. Spock, go ahead," he said, trying not to let on how much the heat was affecting him. But he knew he couldn't stay out here exposed to the sun for much longer. As it was, it felt like an eternity before Spock was snapping the back of the communicator shut.

"Spock to _Enterprise. _Spock to _Enterprise._"

No response. Kirk and Spock looked at each other for a few seconds, then Kirk tried to shrug it off. "It was worth a try."

Spock raised an eyebrow, meaning that he thought Kirk was being far too cavalier about the whole situation, but said nothing. They'd been in worse situations before and always found their way out, usually thanks to Kirk's determination. Out loud, he said, "I would suggest that we keep moving. The disturbance may be a localized phenomenon. You will not be able to stay exposed to the sun for much longer in any case."

A shadow of a grin appeared on Kirk's face, "You think I can't keep up with you?" But he nodded, "Good idea. We'll stop every five miles and try contacting the ship again. Do you think those mountains are too far away to reach?" There might be some shelter there, if only an overhang where they could get some relief from the sun. In any case, the mountains were the only landmarks to head towards.

Spock looked where Kirk was pointing. "According to the readings we took from the _Enterprise_, they are eighty two miles from our present position." The mood between them, already serious, grew more somber. They had taken only enough water as was necessary for a one-day expedition. The journey Spock was suggesting would take days. Kirk felt himself sway slightly, and this time Spock looked at him in concern. "However, I do not believe we have any choice."

Kirk nodded, mentally steeling himself for the ordeal, "You're right. We have to reach those mountains if we have any chance of survival."

* * *

><p>"It's been three hours, Lieutenant, try and raise the captain," Scotty ordered Uhura. It was an hour after what was supposed to have been their first scheduled check-in and it wasn't like the captain and Mr. Spock not to check in.<p>

"_Enterprise _to Captain Kirk, _Enterprise_ to Captain Kirk." Uhura waited a few minutes, then tried Spock. "Mr. Scott, I can't raise either of them."

Scotty pondered the viewscreen, an image of the desert planet below plastered across it. Then, turning back to the captain's chair, he called the transporter room. "Transporter room, can you get a lock on the captain and Mr. Spock?"

"No, sir," came the response. "There's no trace of them, sir. I've been trying for the past ten minutes."

"Thank you, laddie. Keep trying," Scotty said. To Chekov, he said, "What are the readings from that planet?"

The young ensign jumped up to Spock's science station, "Sir, according to the readings, there appears to be an…ion storm?" He looked up, confused.

"But there's no ion storm!" Scotty said in disbelief. "That's impossible. We'd feel _something_ up here! Is there something wrong with the instruments?"

Chekov checked the science instruments, then turned back to Scotty, "No, sir. All in working order."

Scotty sat back, assessing the situation. With the instruments thinking there was an ion storm, there'd be no way to contact the captain. Worse, there'd be no way to scan the surface for their life signs. They could try and send a team down in a shuttlecraft, but with the instruments so off, they might be unable to land properly and crash. "Lieutenant Uhura?"

"Yes, sir?"

"See what you can do with the communication array. There's got to be some way of breaking through whatever the instruments are reading in that atmosphere!"

"Aye, sir," Uhura said. She crawled beneath her station, pulling open the panel and getting to work right away. Scotty remained in the captain's chair, watching the planet below, calculating how long Kirk and Spock would be able to survive on the surface. He estimated they had a week at the outside, if they could stretch out their supplies. A week. That was how long he had to find them.


	3. Chapter 3

They walked in silence for the next hour, Kirk concentrating only on putting one foot in front of the other. He had set himself a challenge; keep up with Spock, step for step, for as long as he possibly could. Breaking the journey into individual steps and turning it into a competition, however one-sided, kept him from thinking about the larger situation. He didn't have any answers at the moment; the only thing they could do was try to survive as long as possible. Second by second if they had to. But he couldn't ignore that it was getting harder and harder to keep up with the challenge.

Every five miles they stopped and called the _Enterprise. _Each time they received no response. But it served as a helpful way to mark both the time passed and their pace. They passed the first two five mile markers quicker than Kirk had thought, but the third seemed to be taking forever.

"Don't slow down, Spock. We have to cover as much ground as we can today while we still have enough water," Kirk said. Spock had estimated they could ration their water supply to last for three days, but Kirk didn't want to leave too much of the journey for then. Better to push themselves now, while they still could.

"Yes, Captain," Spock answered. "You should have your next water ration now, while I attempt to contact the _Enterprise_."

"All right," Kirk said. "Two mouthfuls each time, at most, right?" That was what they'd figured out would keep them functioning well enough to reach the mountains in three days.

"No more than that," Spock confirmed, calling the _Enterprise_. Kirk nodded and took his two mouthfuls; he knew there was no use in trying to prove his strength by taking less. He'd only end up weakening more quickly. He eyed Spock knowingly, ignoring the fact that they'd failed to raise the ship for a third time.

"You're not taking any of yours."

"I require less water than humans do," Spock answered logically, starting to walk again, at the quicker pace Kirk had requested. "It would be illogical to waste our water supplies when I do not require it."

"Always logical," Kirk said under his breath, going back to concentrating on matching Spock's steps. He wanted Spock to keep talking; it kept his mind occupied.

Spock rose to the bait, as Kirk knew he would. "All Vulcan children are taught to survive in the desert through the use of logic and skills handed down from our ancestors. It is-"

"Logical," Kirk finished, beginning to smile. "I suppose it is. Your planet is definitely a desert, although not as bad as this one."

Spock paused for a minute. "It was surprising to me at the Academy that most of the cadets had so little prior physical and survival training."

"Well, Earth is almost a paradise, now, you could say," Kirk said. "There's not much call for that sort of thing anymore. Unless, of course, you enjoy it. Plenty of people go out camping for fun." Memories of his father's leaves from Starfleet, spent in the woods near their farm, entered his mind.

"Is it logical to depend so heavily upon technology?" Spock asked. "To lose the knowledge your ancestors once held?"

"Probably not," Kirk admitted. "But not everything is lost. Take me, I grew up on a farm, one of the few left. My mother farmed because she believed in it, in food that came straight from the ground to your plate. I did more physical labor than any of my friends, and she made sure my brother and I knew how to feed ourselves. Now, my father, he made sure we knew how to survive. Camping trips whenever he was home. So even if some people forgot, others didn't."

"Is it wise, though, Captain, that such knowledge should remain the province of a few enthusiasts, instead of being taught more widely?" Spock asked.

Kirk shook his head with a brief grin, "Again, probably not. But you can't force people to learn what they don't want to, or have to."

They lapsed into silence, until all Kirk could hear was the soft sound of their footfalls on the sand. Kirk cleared his throat and asked, "All Vulcan children have to go through some sort of test, don't they? To prove they know how to survive?" He remembered seeing scraps of memories relating to this the few times he and Spock had mind-melded. Maybe something Spock had learned would be useful here. They could use all the help they could get.

"The _kahs-wan_," Spock said. "A test for young children, in which they have to survive for ten days, alone, in a canyon known as Vulcan's forge, without water, food or weapons."

"Ten days?" Kirk asked. Even knowing the uncompromising nature of Vulcan culture as he did, he felt that was a little harsh. "How old were you?"

"I was approximately seven Earth years of age," Spock answered. "It is not as vigorous as it sounds. All the participants have prepared for years, and trained professionals stand by in case they are needed. To fail is not considered a disgrace."

"Aren't there predators on Vulcan?"

"There are," Spock answered. "I myself was nearly killed by a _lematya_ during my _kahs-wan._"

"Really?" Kirk asked. "I can imagine your mother wasn't too happy about that." Even with his parents' focus on outdoor knowledge, Kirk knew he couldn't have survived more than one night alone in the wilderness at that age.

"She was…unhappy with my father for many days afterward," Spock said, sounding almost amused. "However, she seemed to enjoy telling the story of how I fought off a _lematya_ with no weapons for months afterward."

Kirk smiled. He could guess what had been hanging on Spock passing that test; his family's reputation, the viability of Vulcan-human hybrids, the validity of his mother's choice to raise a Vulcan family, Spock's status as a Vulcan. Too much to depend on one seven-year-old's survival abilities.

Kirk became so engrossed in his thoughts that he walked straight into Spock fifteen minutes later.

"Is it five more miles?" he asked. That seemed to have gone more quickly. His throat felt drier than before though, no doubt because they had kept up their conversation. Kirk grimaced; it probably wasn't the smartest thing they could do, but it did make the time go faster.

Spock tried and failed once again to contact the _Enterprise_, and Kirk looked up at the sky. The suns were much lower in the sky than before, meaning it was close to this planet's sunset. "We should probably try to get some rest. It's going to get dark soon." Deserts on Earth often plunged in temperature at night, but Kirk had no idea if the same would hold true for a desert planet like this.

"We have covered twenty miles," Spock said. "A good pace." This time, he didn't refuse the water, although after they were done they realized they had gone through more than they should have, even though Spock had refused his share throughout the day. At this rate, they would run out of water before the three day mark.

"Sorry," Kirk said.

Spock gave him a look that on anyone else would be called withering, "Captain, the amount of water your body requires is not under your control."

"Or anything else," Kirk said as his stomach growled. Spock might be able to survive easily for three days on no food; Kirk knew he couldn't. Spock's expression grew more concerned; the captain would start to weaken much more quickly than he would. They needed to make it out of this disturbance, and they had no guarantee that the mountains would prove to be any less dangerous than the desert they were traversing.

*Everything about the _kahs-wan_ comes from the episode of _Star Trek: The Animated Series_ entitled "Yesteryear".


	4. Chapter 4

Scotty tried to stop himself from pacing around the bridge. He was Acting Captain, and that meant he should act like a captain. But it had been almost ten hours with no word from either Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock. Instead, he turned to Uhura for what felt like the fiftieth time. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong the communication instruments that's causing this?"

"Yes, sir, I'm positive," Uhura answered with a touch of impatience. "I've triple checked everything, tried to contact both the captain and Mr. Spock on every frequency. Everything's in working order. Whatever this is, it's coming from the planet."

Scotty sighed in frustration. "Well, keep trying to raise them." He knew she was right, she'd only told him the same thing every time he'd asked. He felt so helpless up here, knowing that the two senior officers were somewhere on that hell of a planet, unable to get back or even get in contact with the ship.

"This is why they tell you not to send all the senior officers off in one shuttlecraft," Doctor McCoy said from his spot behind the captain's chair. He'd hardly moved from there since the start of the crisis, only to return to sickbay every so often if someone had a problem that needed to be dealt with. Not that there had been one; any _Enterprise _crewmember would have had to be dying to try and get the doctor's attention with Kirk and Spock lost on that planet.

"Well, if I know the captain, he won't give up until he's exhausted every option available to him, and tried to create a few that aren't," Scotty said, forcing a note of confidence into his voice. It seemed to have some effect; the bridge crew glanced around, nodding. "And neither will we. Ensign, you said the readings appeared to be the same as an ion storm?"

"Yes, Mr. Scott," Chekov answered. "But there is no ion storm."

"Aye, but we can try and modify the communication array to compensate for it anyway," Scotty said. He knew it was something the captain would, and probably did, try, but the _Enterprise_'s signals were so much stronger than the handheld communicators that it just might work on their end.

"It's worth a try," Uhura said.

"Good, you and Mr. Chekov, go down to the array and start those modifications. Notify me when they're finished."

"Aye, sir." She and Chekov got up and left immediately, both looking happier now that there was something going on that might actually work.

"There's no guarantee that'll work, you know," McCoy said.

"I know, Doctor," Scotty answered. "But if the instruments think it's an ion storm, maybe there's something in the interference that's similar enough to an ion storm that the same modifications will work."

McCoy nodded, "Makes sense to me. Now, will it make sense to that communication array?"

Scotty smiled, "It just might."

* * *

><p>This desert was not at all like Earth deserts. It remained just as warm at night as it did during the day. Luckily, most Starfleet officers developed the ability to fall asleep quickly and sleep lightly, due to constant alarms and midnight duty shifts. Kirk was no exception; in spite of the heat and his own physical discomfort he fell asleep in a matter of minutes. When he awoke, it was still dark, with the edges of the mountains only starting to be visible with the first edges of sunrise. Looking around, Kirk saw that Spock was examining their water supplies, looking worried, for him at least.<p>

"Not enough?" Kirk asked.

"There should be a sufficient amount for today and tomorrow," Spock said.

"But no more?"

"Correct," Spock said dispassionately. Kirk took his water bottle and took his two mouthfuls, determined to make it farther today than they had yesterday.

"I don't suppose you've heard from the _Enterprise?"_

"Negative," Spock answered. "There is no logical explanation for why this phenomenon should appear from nowhere and only affect the communicators." He looked almost irritated by the disturbance's lack of sense.

Kirk got up, "Well, for now, what caused the phenomenon is a less pressing problem than how we're going to get out of it. Since we don't know enough about the phenomenon to fix the communicators, we're better of trying to find some shelter." He pointed in the direction of the mountains and set off without a word. He knew he sounded impatient, but he couldn't afford to study this as an intellectual problem. As if to add to the point, his stomach growled loudly again.

"Jim. You need something to eat." Spock's tone was what Kirk would have called worried in someone else, his expression clearly concerned to those who knew how to read it.

Kirk waved a hand, "Thank you, Mr. Spock. I'll be fine. All the same, let's keep an eye out for any plants that might be edible." They hadn't seen any plants so far, but all their readings said that this planet was capable of supporting hardy plant life. Spock lapsed into silence, knowing better than argue with Kirk when he was determined. But as the day wore on and they seemed to cover less ground, Kirk knew his weakened condition was at least partly to blame. He pushed himself harder; they only had one more day to reach the mountains. Things had to be better there, even if it was only because there might be shelter.

As if reading his mind, Spock asked, "We should determine what we will do if the mountains don't have sources of food or water, or if the phenomenon is still in place when we reach them."

"You're right," Kirk said tiredly. It was becoming difficult to concentrate. He would have given anything for a hamburger right now. Or even one of those salads McCoy was always trying to force on him. He reached for the water, realizing as he did so that it was too close to their last water break. They wouldn't have enough left but he was so thirsty. Sighing, he resisted the urge.

Spock tactfully ignored this, saying instead, "We will most likely not be in any condition to scale the mountains when we reach them." Kirk rolled his eyes. Spock had such a gift for understatement. "However, it is possible that there is a cave system. In this environment, that is where we are most likely to find water. If we are still unable to contact the _Enterprise_, we should try to head underground."

"Caves sound pretty good right about now," Kirk said, squinting up toward the sun. "I don't think there's anything else we can do. It would provide shelter, maybe water. Maybe some answers to why this is happening."

Spock looked over, "You do not think this is natural?"

"Do you? There are no effects except on one of our instruments and it appeared out of nowhere. It has no features other than giving off the same readings as an ion storm. I think it's more likely to be artificial than natural," Kirk said.

"A logical conclusion," Spock answered, and Kirk nodded. "But there is no evidence that this planet was ever inhabited by anything more sophisticated than plants."

"Well, then we must be missing something," Kirk said. "Or maybe they were incredibly sophisticated plants." Spock raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"The point is, it's more likely that this is an artificial phenomenon than that there's an invisible force that doesn't obey any of the laws of nature," Kirk finished. He quickened his pace and instantly realized it was a bad idea. He was hit with a sudden bout of dizziness and light-headedness and stumbled sideways, where Spock caught him.

"I'm fine, Spock," Kirk said quietly, starting at a more steady pace. This time, Spock's raised eyebrow clearly said _no, you're not_, but they couldn't afford to stop. Not when they had so much more ground to cover.


	5. Chapter 5

Survival mode. All Starfleet officers had to cultivate a mindset they could get into in a crisis, where all concerns took a backseat to the all-important job of getting out alive. Kirk had been in some desperate situations in his life, but few were as desperate as this. He couldn't think of many times where simply finding food, water and shelter were so difficult that they pushed all other concerns out of the way.

Except for one, however much he didn't want to think about it right now. Kirk had pushed the memories of Tarsus IV to the back of his mind, where they usually stayed without a problem. He hadn't thought about them in depth for years, except when Kodos and his daughter had visited the _Enterprise_. That had, in many ways, helped him push the memories even further back. Seeing Kodos as a broken, old man meant it truly was over, at least for Kirk himself. But as the day wore on, Kirk found that this experience reminded him of Tarsus IV in more ways than one, and that he remembered more of that time than he'd thought.

_ The air felt arid, even though the world wasn't a desert. It hadn't rained in almost a year, and no matter how hard the government tried to pretend things were still going on as normal, it was clear to everyone that it wasn't. _

_ Even to someone who wasn't from that planet. Jim Kirk, fourteen years old, was ready to spend the summer alone for the first time. Excited to be going offworld for the first time as part of a planetary exchange program, he was especially proud that only one student from each region was chosen. But from the instant he landed, he knew something was wrong._

_ "Why are we still doing this program? We don't have the resources! We can barely feed our own people," a harried-looking government official was following around a man Kirk knew to be the planetary governor. _

_ "We'll talk later, Aram," Kodos said stiffly, before turning to greet Jim with a plastered smile._

_ Jim would hardly have guessed that there was a famine. It was kept largely out of the news on Earth, where everyone was more concerned with the Klingons, and meals in the governor's palace, where he was staying, were still plentiful. Jim's days were spent observing the workings of the planetary government, touring the sights of the capital city, and spending time with the other program participants and the sons and daughters of diplomats and government officials. But today, they were heading out to view the countryside. Once there, Jim couldn't help but notice the hopeless look in the eyes of everyone they passed, too thin for the planet to be as successful a colony as everyone believed. And the fields…"Why are the fields empty?" He asked his guide. "It's summer. They should be full of crops, almost ready to harvest."_

_ "You know something about planting crops?" the guide asked, eyeing Jim suspiciously._

_ "I live on a farm back on Earth," Jim answered stubbornly. This was wrong. Desperately wrong._

_ He heard the speech from his hiding place in a corridor off to the side, behind a column. Kodos was going to kill half the population! He held his breath as Kodos exited the balcony, hearing the screams of the people in the city center as the guards started picking out those who wouldn't survive. Kodos didn't see him, but he knew he had to get out of here. He ran to each of the other children's rooms and quietly led them out of the palace, thanking his lucky stars he'd spent much of his free time searching for hidden passages and was lucky enough to find some. _

_ Once outside, it was chaos. Little Kevin Riley whimpered and clung close to Jim, who patted his hair distractedly. Shelter, water, food, in that order. They needed someplace the soldiers wouldn't find them. "Come on," Jim said quietly, leading them down a side street. They passed a couple of bodies on the way, scorched with close-range phaser fire. Jim swallowed and forced himself to move on. He had people to protect. _

_ "Jim," I'm hungry," Kevin whimpered, while the other five children nodded. Jim sighed. He'd managed to find an abandoned basement that still had running water, but after four days, he didn't want to have to try and find his way through the city center. He could still hear screams and phaser fire. But it had been two days since they'd finished the few supplies he'd managed to find. They couldn't stay here for much longer. _

_ "The rescue ships will be here soon," Jim promised, although he had no idea when the Starfleet rescue ships would arrive. They had to be on their way. His dad had told him how much of what he did on duty was to provide relief to planets that had experienced epidemics or famines. How could Tarsus IV have fallen through the cracks? All the same, he slipped quietly up the stairs and started searching through the rubble for something usable. He froze when he saw two soldiers stop at the end of the street, but they didn't look his way. Jim turned around and left in the other direction, which looked as if it had been deserted for days. Spotting a bag on the ground, he nearly cried out with joy when he found a few bread crusts and an old plum. Enough to keep the children alive. They would make it._

The rest of the memories were flashes. The looks on the Starfleet officers' faces when they arrived and realized what had happened, ranging from anger to grief. The fear when strangers entered their hideaway, followed by overwhelming relief when they realized the strangers were Starfleet officers. Nearly fainting from hunger when he reached Sickbay on the rescue ship. His mother crying when he finally made it home. Kirk shook his head to clear it. He couldn't afford to dwell on Tarsus IV now, when he hadn't in years.

He caught Spock watching him and dredged up a weak smile, "Just thinking. This is all reminding me of Tarsus IV."

Spock stopped, "Jim-"

Kirk stopped him, "Spock, it's fine. I came to terms with that a long time ago. I just can't help remembering it, that's all. The air here feels the same. It's dry and arid. You can tell almost nothing grows here. Just like nothing was growing there."

Spock simply watched him. Kirk almost never talked about Tarsus IV, but today it was taking his mind off their current situation. If he could survive that, he could survive this too. "It's the same mindset I had to cultivate there. Minute-by-minute survival." Kirk smiled wanly. "I guess you could say I learned a lot there."

"They were lessons you could have learned without being subjected to such an event," Spock said, his voice cold with repressed anger.

"I know," Kirk said. "That's why I decided to join Starfleet, you know. We would have been lost without those rescue ships, and when they came down, and did everything they could to help us, I knew _that's_ what I wanted to do with my life. Of course, it helped that they got to command starships and fly around the universe discovering new things, but helping those that for whatever reason can't help themselves, that's what Starfleet is really about."

"An interesting viewpoint," Spock said. "It is arguable that, had the starships not been a week late in arriving, the entire massacre could have been avoided."

"Yes, I know," Kirk said quietly. "That haunted me for years afterward. I guess I thought I could do it better, or at least have a chance to make sure that something like that could never happen again."

He took his next two mouthfuls, noticing that Spock didn't refuse his this time. This environment was taking its toll on both of them, even if Kirk seemed to be hit the hardest.

"I would say that you have succeeded," Spock said after a few more minutes of walking in silence.

"In what?" Kirk asked. He'd been concentrating on how much closer the mountains seemed after almost two full days of walking and lost the train of their conversation.

"In ensuring that an event like Tarsus IV does not happen again," Spock said. "Out of 132 rescue missions the _Enterprise_ has taken part in under your command, we have arrived before the crisis point in 120. We arrived during the crisis, but with enough time to halt the worst effects in twelve. This does not count the number of diplomatic missions where you have personally averted wars, or battles where we have fought races who would have invaded Federation space."

"That many?" Kirk asked, impressed with both the record and that Spock had memorized it. "I never really thought of it in those terms. I've just been doing the best I can. But statistically, I suppose you're right." He grinned inwardly. He'd kept the promise he'd made to himself when he was fourteen; not to let what happened on Tarsus IV keep him from getting up there and exploring, and to do everything in his power to leave the Federation a better and safer place than he'd found it.

Slightly rejuvenated by Spock's assessment of his career, Kirk quickened his pace. "Come on, Spock! We're going to make it. Almost there."


	6. Chapter 6

"Hand me that tricorder," Uhura said to Chekov from inside the Jeffries tube. He handed her the instrument and stepped back as she took new readings of the now modified communications array. Jumping down from the Jeffries tube, she grinned and reminded herself to thank the advisor who had suggested she supplement her linguistics specialty with some basic engineering and computer programming courses. Most communications officers concentrated on the linguistics aspect of the job, only knowing what they needed to work the console. Uhura's increased knowledge of how the communications systems worked and how to fix them if necessary had been why she'd gotten this posting on the _Enterprise. _Someday, it would be why she would get promotions and better assignments. And today, it might mean the difference between life and death for Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

Going over the intercom on the wall, she called the bridge. "I made the modifications you asked for. I had to reroute power through the auxiliary life support systems but it should boost the signal enough to make it through the interference."

"If the interference is enough like an ion storm, that is," Chekov said.

"Don't be such a pessimist!" Uhura said as they headed back to the bridge.

Chekov sighed, "On this ship? The only way to be right about anything is to insist that things will go wrong."

Uhura fell silent, because by and large it was true. The _Enterprise_ did have extraordinarily bad luck compared to the other starships. But the _Enterprise_ also had a captain who hadn't failed yet to get himself and his ship out of each and every unbelievable situation they found themselves in. She held on to that, but couldn't help imagining the worst. What if this was the time it didn't work? What if they did manage to break through the interference but it was too late? Uhura found she had trouble even picturing this. The _Enterprise_ without either Kirk or Spock. Kirk not finding his way out of some impossible scenario. She pushed the thoughts out of her head once she reached the bridge.

"_Enterprise _to Captain Kirk. _Enterprise_ to Captain Kirk."

No answer. Uhura calmly tried contacting the captain on every other frequency. Then she repeated the process trying Mr. Spock's communicator. No luck. _What happened?_

"I don't know what happened," she said in frustration to Scotty. "That should have worked."

Scotty shook his head. He hadn't really expected it to work but he'd still held out some hope. "It is working, Lieutenant. It's just that even though it reads like an ion storm, it's not an ion storm, so the signal still can't go through. Now we just need to figure out what _will_ get through whatever that is down there." At least they'd figured out it wasn't anything like an ion storm, however similar the readings were.

Everyone fell silent, thinking it over. Finally, Chekov looked up. "If we modify the deflector dish to send out the same microwaves we use to study solar storms, we might be able to determine the extent of the interference. Maybe even where it originates."

"Now that may just work!" Scotty cried. "Chekov, with me. Lt. Uhura, keep trying to raise them. Sulu, you have the bridge."

"Aye, sir," Sulu and Uhura said at the same time.

* * *

><p>Spock was still trying to contact the <em>Enterprise<em> every five miles, with no results. Kirk knew the importance of keeping a set routine, otherwise he would have told Spock to stop until they had evidence that something in their situation was about to change. But without these periodic breaks, they would be living one long stretch of endless heat and exhaustion. It served as a useful way to determine how far they walked each day. The mountains were already much closer than when they had started out. The sight made Kirk even more determined to push onward. They were so close he could almost taste it. At least, if his mouth wasn't so dry. On the bright side, the hunger pangs had stopped, if only because his body realized it was useless. He was shutting down, he could feel it.

Kirk looked at the last mouthful of water in his canteen and sighed, giving in. They only had a couple of more hours of daylight left before they would have to stop. Spock watched him and then handed over his own canteen without a word.

"No," Kirk held up a hand, refusing it. "I'm not taking that."

Spock cut him off with uncharacteristic brusqueness. "Jim, it is logical. You require more hydration than I do. It would serve no purpose for you to dehydrate further."

Kirk allowed himself a smile, "Is this a 'you need this more than I do' moment?"

Spock's expression grew quizzical. "I agree with the logic of the sentiment."

"Well, thank you," Kirk said, accepting the water. "At least we're only a few hours away from the mountains."

"Yes, approximately twenty-six miles away," Spock answered. Kirk sighed, stumbling backwards slightly. He hadn't realized it was still so far. He noticed after a few moments that Spock was keeping a hand on his arm to steady him.

"I'm all right, Spock," Kirk said, waving off the helping hand.

Spock's eyebrow went up, "No, you are not. Your reaction time is down 56%, you are frequently unable to remain standing, and your speed has decreased by 40%. All these are symptoms of extreme dehydration."

Suddenly annoyed, Kirk turned away and started heading for the mountains again. "Thank you for your diagnosis. I'll be sure to tell Doctor McCoy you're doing his job now in addition to yours,  
>he snapped. Spock followed him without a word. <em>This is exactly what he's talking about<em>, a little voice in Kirk's head said. Irritability was a symptom of dehydration too and he sighed. "I'm sorry, Spock. You're right, I'm not fine. Neither are you."

"Apologies are unnecessary, Captain," Spock said.

"Yes, they are," Kirk said. "When humans make mistakes, they want to atone for them. Make sure that the person they offended knows they made a mistake and are sorry for it."

"As I said, illogical," Spock answered.

"You know, Spock, you're so big on following rules and traditions, did it ever occur to you that maybe humans have some rules and traditions that are different from yours they might want to follow? Like apologizing when they do something wrong to someone?" Kirk let his anger flare up again, even though the small, rational part of his brain knew that he wasn't really angry with Spock, but with this interference and this planet and this entire mission that had turned out so wrong. He knew he should apologize again but if Spock didn't want it then he wouldn't get it.

_You're acting like a child_, the rational Kirk in his mind said. He ignored it, stomping forward. Spock, as always, followed without complaint, giving Kirk an odd mix of guilt and irrational anger. It'd be so much easier if Spock simply fought back, the way he did with McCoy. Usually the captain and first officer were such a seamless team that arguments were almost unheard of between them, but when they did happen, Kirk always found himself reacting like this. Angry that he couldn't get a reaction out of Spock, then guilty for being so angry with someone who wouldn't fight back. Kirk let the angry thoughts occupy his mind for a while until he noticed the sky acting weird. It was spinning, turning fuzzy.

"Spock, is the sky spinning or-" Kirk felt the ground come up to meet him halfway through his sentence and realized the sky wasn't spinning, he was losing his hold on reality. Trying to pull himself back to consciousness, the last thing he heard was Spock's voice, sounding on the verge of almost panicked, for a Vulcan.

"Captain? Jim!"


	7. Chapter 7

When Kirk woke up, it was dark out, but still as hot as ever. He wondered if they would ever get some relief; the climate-controlled _Enterprise_ was starting to seem like a dream. He was still thirsty, not to mention extremely light-headed, probably from prolonged hunger. He tried to sit up, only to have the world start spinning around him again.

"Captain? Are you all right?" Spock was suddenly next to him, and Kirk waved him off.

"I think so. What happened?"

"You lost consciousness due to dehydration," Spock answered. "I carried you for the remaining twenty-six miles."

Kirk looked around, "You mean we made it to the mountains?" He looked behind them for the first time and sure enough, they were up against a sheer rock wall, with an overhang. He grinned for the first time in days. "Have you looked around here? Is there anything useful?" He didn't trust himself to get up and start exploring himself yet; he had the feeling if he did he would collapse again.

"I conducted a general survey of our surroundings," Spock said, and Kirk noted that for the first time in this whole ordeal he sounded tired. "There does not appear to be any water in our vicinity, and I was unable to locate any caves nearby. The interference has not stopped."

"We could go searching for caves now," Kirk said unenthusiastically. He hadn't expected the interference to stop, although he hadn't been able to stop hoping that it might. That small hope extinguished, Kirk realized they'd have to push themselves forward on nothing now. Just sheer perseverance.

"It is more logical to rest under the overhang than strain ourselves searching now," Spock answered, to Kirk's relief. "It will be dark soon." For the first time, the captain realized how long it must have taken Spock to get here, carrying Kirk in his weakened condition.

They leaned up against the rock wall and Kirk closed his eyes, grateful for the reprieve, however small. It wasn't much of an improvement, but at least they weren't out in the open anymore. Today, that rock wall felt like the most comfortable bed he'd seen in years.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, Kirk trying to think through plans for the next day. He still had a little of Spock's water left, so he should make it until the next day when, with any luck, they would find an underground pool. Or, better, a way back to the _Enterprise._

The silence grew awkward. Kirk supposed that since the last thing he'd done before collapsing was take out all his anger on Spock this was to be expected. Even Vulcans were not immune from some expression of anger. With Spock, this usually took the form of a clipped professionalism that left no room for anything else. Kirk sighed inwardly; he knew if he tried to apologize he would be rebuffed again. Blast it, just because Spock didn't _get _angry didn't mean he _wasn't _angry.

"You are incorrect," Spock said suddenly, and Kirk jumped up, startled.

"About what? I didn't say anything."

"When you said I was so 'big on following rules and traditions,'" Spock answered.

Kirk almost smiled. "Dwelling on that, Mr. Spock?"

"Not at all, Captain. However, I was not known for strictly following rules until my Starfleet career."

"Spock, I have a hard time picturing you breaking any kind of rules or codes. The only time you ever go against regulations it's because of Vulcan traditions," Kirk said, thinking back to Spock's almost mutiny on behalf of Captain Pike, and then his diversion to Vulcan because of the _pon farr_.

"You can ask my mother, should you ever meet her," Spock said. "My instructors had to contact my parents more than once about my…altercations with my fellow students."

"You? Altercations?" Kirk couldn't picture his upright first officer getting into fights with anyone.

Spock didn't look up, "Vulcan children can be as cruel as humans when they wish." Kirk's eyes widened in sudden understanding, and he felt like sticking his foot in his mouth. But he didn't say anything; Spock so rarely talked about his past that any confidence was a rare privilege.

"Before I took the _kahs wan_, I found the mountains near my childhood home to be a refuge. I often went there after school hours were over. Sometimes instead of school, without informing my parents." If a Vulcan could look sheepish, that was what Spock appeared to be right now.

Kirk, for his part, almost burst out laughing. He managed to prevent it just in time. "You cut school to go hide in the mountains?"

"I attempted to convince my parents it was part of my _kahs wan_ preparation," Spock said.

"I take it they didn't believe you?"

"My mother saw through it right away," Spock said , still looking somewhat piqued about it.

Kirk had not met Spock's parents yet; from what he knew about Spock's relationship with his father, he doubted he ever would. However, he could picture the reactions. A coldly logical argument between father and son, with Spock's mother caught in the middle. The farming community Kirk grew up in had seemed unbearably small and provincial to a boy who wanted to travel the stars, but it seemed likea paragon of open-mindedness compared to what Spock had gone through.

"I was much better prepared for my _kahs wan _than my classmates because of this," Spock said. "I used to practice mapping the stars in those mountains."

Kirk smiled. He could easily picture a young Spock watching the stars with the same eagerness Kirk had as a child. Different stars, but the idea was the same. "I used to go in the fields and watch them. I could name all the constellations by the time I was six."

"I could as well," Spock said. "The mountains were a good place for a child's scientific studies. There were numerous rocks to study, as well as a complex desert ecosystem." It was easy to tell where Spock had gained his interest in science. It had clearly been an escape for a lonely young boy who had quickly figured out the ways he wouldn't fit into traditional Vulcan society.

"You were quite the rebel when you were young, weren't you?" Kirk asked. He could have sworn Spock looked almost proud of this fact. "It's almost like we switched places."

At Spock's odd look, Kirk went on, "I wasn't always as willing as I am now to break rules into pieces." He grinned, because they both knew that while Kirk's reputation as a maverick was well-deserved, it was also highly exaggerated. "When I was a kid, people used to call me the walking textbook. I always had a stack of books with me, real books." The Kirk family library was a matter of pride, begun by his great-great-grandfather. By the time of Kirk's own childhood, it had spread out to take up most of the living room and formal dining room, and small piles of books could be found all over the house. Of course they had digital books too, it was the only way to buy new works, and no one wanted to be the Kirk who stopped collecting books. The collection encompassed everything, fiction, non-fiction, all the sciences, literature, art, music, history, politics. If Spock's escape had been in hands-on scientific study, Kirk's had been in books. "I read everything, knew every answer in school. I was an easy target until I became a teenager; I was what you'd call a teacher's pet."

"Teacher's pet?"

"Someone who does whatever the teacher wants, shows off how smart they are, that sort of thing," Kirk explained. "I never dreamed of stepping outside the lines until after Tarsus IV. That's when I realized that sometimes you have to take all that knowledge and use it, do something that makes a difference. I was lucky to survive that. I told myself I was never going to survive something just by luck ever again. Although I was still known as being pretty bookish even into my Academy years." He grimaced, thinking about how Finnegan would call him a stack of books with legs. Spock raised an eyebrow, knowing that Kirk was still far more interested in study and serious intellectual discussion than anyone who knew him only by reputation would guess.

They both glanced up at the sky, their argument of the prior day completely forgotten in how similar they always proved to be. Connected by that huge expanse of space they both had taken such comfort in as children that now had brought them together. "The universe works in mysterious ways," Kirk finally said.

"Indeed," Spock answered. Kirk must have fallen asleep after that because the next thing he knew, it was light, and the second part of their journey was about to begin.

* * *

><p>AN Thank you everyone, for the reviews and the favorites and the follows!


	8. Chapter 8

"The mountains are made of sedimentary rock with large quantities of iron buried inside," Spock said, looking at his tricorder.

"How much iron?"

Spock's eyebrow flew up, "The amount of iron would appear to be half of the entire mountain."

"What?" Kirk asked. "That didn't show up on our scans before we beamed down."

"There must have been some form of interference before we beamed down, entirely different from the one that prevented our communication with the _Enterprise_ once here," Spock said. In spite of how exhausted he seemed, some of his usual enthusiasm for scientific puzzles entered his voice.

"But we didn't detect any interference," Kirk said. "Completely undetectable interference? _Selective _interference?" Why would the interference change once they were on the planet, suddenly preventing them from beaming up when they'd had no trouble at all beaming down?

"Selective interference, that is not directed by a life form of some kind, is unheard of," Spock said. He allowed himself a small sigh before saying, "But that is what the evidence suggests."

"Is it coming from inside the mountain?" Kirk asked. "That much iron means there's probably something under there. A civilization of some kind? Or something technological, left behind?"

"I can make no further conclusions without more evidence," Spock answered slowly, looking at his tricorder again. Kirk forced himself to be patient; Spock would come up with an answer when he was ready. He always did. In the meantime, he started examining the rock wall, trying to see if there was a hidden entrance. Kirk swallowed, his throat so dry he felt like it was about to crack in two. He was at his limit, he'd drunk the last of the water this morning and it was only midday. They had to find something soon, either a water source or a way to get back to the _Enterprise_.

As if in response to this train of thought, Kirk started swaying again, grabbing on to the wall in support. "Captain!" Spock came over instantly and helped him to sit down against the wall.

"I'll-" Kirk meant to say he'd be fine, but he couldn't finish the sentence. His head was still swimming, and he was starting to see double. He shook his head and tried to get up, only to fall back into the rock.

"Jim," Spock kept a steady hand on his shoulder. "I can search for a way to contact the _Enterprise_. You should rest."

"No," Kirk said. "We go together. We made it this far by not separating, we're not going to start now." He knew he was being stubborn, but his condition would only worsen with time. He'd have to stay with Spock if he had any chance.

Spock nodded, "Perhaps that is better. It would be unwise for either of us to be alone in this environment in our current condition." He held out a hand to help Kirk, who smiled weakly and took it. The world was still unsteady, and he nodded in gratitude as Spock kept an arm around his shoulders to keep him standing. Moving together like this was difficult, but Kirk shuddered, or would have if he didn't feel like he was burning in Hell, at the thought of being alone here, even for a few minutes.

They stopped suddenly at a completely nondescript section of wall and Spock started scanning it with his tricorder. "I believe I have found something," he said.

"What is it?" Kirk asked. The wall looked completely blank to him, not even an overhang to keep the sun from beating down on their backs.

"A slight decrease in the amount of iron detectable behind this section of the wall," Spock mused. He pushed against the wall, to no avail. "There is no entranceway visible, but there must be some way of getting inside."

"Spock?" Kirk asked. He knew Spock could turn ideas over in his head for hours for the sheer enjoyment of it, but they didn't have hours.

Looking up, Spock began to explain, "If this is the remnant of a long-dead civilization, there must be some way of getting inside. Judging by the selective interference field, they were likely highly advanced, so the opening mechanism for this entrance might be technological in nature, rather than physical."

"If it is a door."

"It is our best lead so far."

Kirk nodded tiredly, "Right as usual, Mr. Spock. Do you think it might be a sonic lock?"

"That is possible, although we would be unable to test that theory while our communicators are not functioning," Spock answered. "But this civilization was obviously adept at manipulating energy fields like the one that is blocking our communicators. The logical conclusion is that the lock will be based on a similar energy field."

"So how would we replicate this energy field?"

Spock stepped back, contemplating the sheer rock face. "I could modify the phasers to produce an energy field. I have no way of isolating which energy field will be the key without access to the _Enterprise_'s computers, however."

"You can guess, though, right?" Kirk asked.

"I can estimate, and try as many different fields as possible."

"Good. Do that. And, Spock, quickly?"

Spock looked at Kirk and got to work right away. The captain knew they didn't have much time left if they didn't find a way to contact the _Enterprise; _even Spock weaken far more quickly in this environment now that they'd run out of water. This door into the mountain _had_ to be the key. They wouldn't have any time left if it wasn't.

An hour passed, then two. Spock dutifully modified both phasers to produce an energy field instead of the concentrate beam they were designed for. It was a delicate operation that took time and concentration. Finally, Spock stood up. "I have modified the phasers to produce a wave similar to gamma rays. The effect this has on the entranceway will determine what further modifications I need to make." He shot both phasers at the rock wall. There was no visible effect; the energy field was outside the spectrum of visible light. After holding the shot for thirty seconds, Spock consulted his tricorder. "It appears to have had no effect." Undeterred, he modified it further and tried again.

Kirk watched in fascination. The race that had lived on this planet had learned to manipulate energy fields that were invisible to life as it was currently known. Did that mean the inhabitants of this planet had been so different these fields were visible to them? How had they adapted for this harsh environment? This was all irrelevant, but it gave him something to think about.

After about an hour of trying different forms of energy fields, Spock suddenly pushed against the wall. "What is it?" Kirk asked.

"The last field, on the far end of the spectrum of microwave beams, caused a sharp decrease in the amount of iron behind this rock face."

Kirk's expression grew confused, then he said, "Like a door is opening inside!" He pressed his ear against the rock. If he concentrated hard enough he could almost hear the mechanisms moving, although he knew that it was probably his imagination. He stepped back as he felt the wall start to slide underneath him. He and Spock glanced at each other. They were faced with a dark tunnel, apparently leading down into the depths of the mountain. At that moment, it was the most beautiful sight Kirk had ever seen.

They stepped into the blackness, Kirk hugging the wall for support, Spock keeping a hand on his arm just in case. The air was cool and dark, in sharp contrast to the light they could still see from the entrance as they walked further in.

"We seem to be moving down," Spock said. Kirk was still concentrating on what a relief it was to be out of the sun, but he did notice that they ground was sloping downward. He pulled himself back to the present and started concentrating on his surroundings. He realized quickly that part of his relief was coming from a breeze. An underground breeze?

"The air is…moving," he said to Spock. "A ventilation system?"

"Most likely. Conclusive proof that our information about this planet was incorrect. There _was _a society here, Jim," Spock answered.

"Where there's a ventilation system, there's other things. Technology, maybe water. Come on, Spock. I have a feeling we're almost out of here."


	9. Chapter 9

"Captain," Spock said after they had traveled down the tunnel for long enough that the pinprick of light from the entranceway had faded to almost nothing. "According to the tricorder, there is a powerful computer twenty meters to the right."

Kirk looked around, although he could barely see anything. "There must be a passageway leading to it." He held on to the right side of the wall, looking for any change in smoothness that might indicate a passage of some sort. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait that long.

The wall suddenly disappeared under Kirk's fingers and he nearly fell into the empty space left. "I think I found it," he said, pulling himself up.

"Yes," Spock said, following his tricorder's signal down the new passageway. "This may be where the energy field originates from. Of course, I will still have to determine how to take down the energy field."

"Let's just get there first, all right?" Kirk said. Without any light from the cave's entrance, they were in pitch blackness and they each kept one hand on the wall to steady themselves. Finally they entered a cavernous chamber. Lights in the ceiling came on as they entered, revealing what looked like rock formations. They quickly realized that these rock formations _were _the computer. Soon, panels and operating mechanisms were easily distinguishable and Kirk sighed in relief. This had to be it. Spock threw him one concerned look before heading straight to work. Soon he was laying on the floor with his head in the computer panel, trying to figure out how it worked. He was surrounded by wires and cables. Kirk sat against the wall, watching, still grateful for the cool temperature inside the mountain.

"The technology in this computer is highly advanced," Spock said.

"You need some help?"

"No. The problem is not lack of skill, but lack of tools. The components are extremely intricate. Working on them without the proper tools is not ideal."

Kirk smiled, "Stone knives and bearskins again?" It was the first time he had mentioned their time in Earth's past since the immediate aftermath.

"No. That would be simpler," Spock answered distractedly. Intrigued, Kirk got up and went over to see. The number of wires hanging out of the exposed panel would have been enough to run the _Enterprise_'s entire auxiliary control room.

"You've got your work cut out for you," Kirk said, trying to keep his voice light. In reality, his heart sank as he saw how complicated the job was. Without the right tools, it could take days for Spock to figure out how to take down the interference, without accounting for any ill effects Spock was suffering from the three-day journey to get here. "You can do it, right?" With only Spock here, he didn't have to try to maintain the command aura, projecting confidence when he felt none. In a way, it was a relief. The situation had become increasingly hopeless as the days went on.

"It is not a question of whether I can," Spock said. "I have determined what most of the components do. It is simply a matter of how long it will take."

Kirk smiled, "That'll be time number…ten that you've saved my life?"

"I was not counting," Spock said, peering out from the panel. "You have saved mine on as many occasions. I believe the correct expression is 'we are even'?"

"I suppose we are," Kirk answered. They were, he thought, in more ways than one. Evenly matched, perfectly complementary to each other. It had truly been the luckiest chance of Kirk's life that he'd been handed Spock as his First Officer. He found his command had become a much friendlier place for him thanks to the Vulcan's presence, and he often wondered if Spock thought similarly; if the change from Pike to Kirk had been a good thing for him or if he still regretted that he wasn't transferred off the _Enterprise. _

Kirk was pulled out of his reverie by the sound of whirring coming from the strange, rock-shaped computers. "Spock? What's going on?"

"I believe I have isolated the components necessary to end the interference," Spock answered, getting up. "We should have no difficult contacting the _Enterprise _now."

"Remind me to write you a commendation when we get back," Kirk said, pulling out his communicator. "Kirk to _Enterprise_. Kirk to _Enterprise_."

Still no answer.

"I thought you said you fixed it," Kirk said, trying hard not to sound too frustrated. _Every time we think we're catching a break…_

Spock looked up at the high ceiling. "Captain, I believe the high concentration of iron might be blocking our signal."

"You mean, we have to go back into that desert out there?" Kirk asked. He groaned when Spock nodded. "All right, let's go. You better be right."

The journey back seemed to take twice as long. Kirk was barely able to keep going; he was pushing himself on the absolute last reserves of energy he had. Even Spock was slowing down, keeping one hand on the wall to avoid falling.

Finally, they reached the mouth of the passageway. Kirk wasted no time in pulling out his communicator. "Kirk to _Enterprise._ Kirk to _Enterprise._"

* * *

><p>"Is the deflector dish modification doing <em>anything<em>?" Scotty asked.

"No, sir," Sulu answered. "We're picking up the energy field now but it envelopes the entire planet. That must be what's preventing them from beaming up. There are no breaks in the field's strength and no sign of a change so far."

The instant he finished his sentence, a light on the communication console started to flash. "Sir, I'm picking up a signal. It's from Captain Kirk!" Uhura said, her voice rising with excitement.

Scotty turned around, a wide grin lighting up his face. "Captain? Are you all right?"

"We've been better," Kirk's voice came over the ship's speakers. He sounded exhausted, in a very weakened condition. "We need an immediate beam-up and a medical team standing by."

"Absolutely, Captain. I'll have Transporter Room 3 beam you up right away," Scotty said. Turning to Uhura, he added, "Tell Dr. McCoy to meet them there."

"Sir…right when the captain contacted us, there was a decrease in energy on the planet," Chekov said. "That must have been the interference disappearing."

Scotty smiled, "Aye, laddie. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock must have figured it out all on their own, as usual." The pride in his voice was unmistakable. The crew of the _Enterprise_ had become aware very quickly that their command team was the stuff legends were made of. Within hours they would be telling each other they'd never had any doubt that Kirk and Spock would make it, but they would all secretly be extremely relieved to see them safely back on the ship. The bridge crew grinned clandestinely at each other as Scotty gave them their new heading, wondering how long it would be before both Kirk and Spock were clamoring to be let out of Sickbay.


	10. Chapter 10

"Bones, I'm fine. I don't need to stay overnight!" Kirk said forcefully. McCoy didn't even bother responding, simply sent the captain a glare and moved on to Spock, who had decided to skip the argument and attempt to simply leave. He was in the middle of pulling his boots on when McCoy caught him.

"No, you don't. You're both severely dehydrated and undernourished. You're going to _stay_ here until I say otherwise!" McCoy said, looking between them, trying to appear angry, but failing in the wake of the enormous relief of seeing them both alive. "If Scotty could handle the ship while you were both missing on that damn desert, he can handle it while you're just here in Sickbay!'

Kirk opened his mouth to argue further and then closed it again. McCoy made an excellent point there. He glanced over at Spock, who seemed to be going through the same thought process. "That is…logical, Doctor," Spock finally said, sounding like the words cost him every ounce of his dignity to say. Kirk quickly turned his laughter into a cough as McCoy left with a very self-satisfied expression.

They were the only two occupants in Sickbay that night, and in spite of himself, Kirk was starting to find the quiet atmosphere restful. He glanced over at Spock, who appeared deep in thought, his brows furrowed. "Something bothering you?"

"Not bothering," Spock clarified. "I have been thinking about who could have been responsible for the phenomenon we experienced."

"Some long-dead race, maybe? Those tunnels seemed like they were cut by some kind of physical beings," Kirk suggested. It definitely seemed like their preliminary information that the planet had always been uninhabited was wrong.

"Perhaps," Spock answered. "But there were few remains of the race, other than the computers and the iron walls of the caves."

They fell silent for a few minutes before Spock sat up. "Why would a race that built uniform walls and ceilings of metal build computers that appeared built into the rock itself? It is not logical."

"Spock, every race does things that don't make sense," Kirk said. "I am surprised we didn't find more evidence of them though; even if they'd died out you'd think they'd leave more than just some empty rooms behind."

Spock surveyed Kirk quizzically, "That may be the key to the mystery."

"What do you mean?"

"What if," Spock asked slowly, interest lighting up his eyes, "the long-dead race that lived on the planet was not behind our experience on the planet? What if it was the _planet _itself?

"The…planet tried to kill us?" Kirk asked. That was certainly different. They'd run into many advanced beings, but a sentient planet was a new one.

"If the computers developed by the civilization that lived on the planet were as advanced as they clearly are-"

"-they may have developed sentience," Kirk finished, nodding. _That _was something they all had too much experience with.

Spock raised an eyebrow, also remembering the numerous occasions the captain had talked sentient computers to death. "Yes. Now, if the planet somehow merged with the computers-"

"-it would make the computers look like rocks instead of like the rest of the underground cavern," Kirk finished. "They gradually melded with the planet until they became_ part of _the planet." He had never had a chance at the Academy or in his earlier postings to keep up with science as much as he would have liked. One of the best things about Spock's double duty was that it gave Kirk a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discuss the latest discoveries with one of the best scientific minds in the Federation. This had the potential to be one of the more interesting discoveries to come out of their five-year mission.

"After many years combined with the computers, it is possible that the planet itself became sentient, using the remains of the long-dead inhabitants as fuel, and trapping any visitors through the use of the energy field we encountered," Spock explained.

"A _carnivorous_ planet?" Kirk asked in disbelief.

"Very much like the Venus flytrap of Earth," Spock added. "Fascinating."

"Well, I could have done without the fascination," Kirk said. "I'll make a note in the log that this planet is to be avoided."

"I must agree with you," Spock said. "Further study of the planet would undoubtedly be too dangerous for any research team."

"Thank you, by the way, for keeping me going while we were…down there," Kirk said. "I know I was a bit of a mess. I don't think I would have made it without you there to push me along."

"Thanks are unnecessary,' Spock said. "However, I believe the correct response is 'you're welcome.'"

Kirk smiled, "Yes it is."

"You know, I kept you in here so you could rest, not keep the medical staff up all night jabbering!' McCoy came in, scowling. Kirk sent Spock a sheepish look that he could have sworn the Vulcan returned.

"All right, Bones, we'll be quiet. Happy?" Kirk said.

McCoy's expression softened, "No, it's fine. It's good to have you guys back. Yes, even you," he added to Spock. He shook his head, then asked, "As long as you're up, want to play some cards? We could teach Spock here the finer points of poker."

"Sure, Bones," Kirk said. Spock raised an eyebrow but soon they were cheerfully involved in the game, where Spock proved himself to be a master player, winning every round they played.

"You should have known, Bones," Kirk said. "The perfect poker face and an expert in probability." He grinned at Spock as McCoy groaned, throwing his cards on the table.

"I am _never_ playing poker against you again," McCoy said to Spock.

The eyebrow flew up again, "A wise decision. The logical points of the game are clearly a bad combination with your more illogical thought processes."

_Here we go again_, Kirk thought, watching Spock and McCoy start yet another argument for the ages. Compared with the last three days, this was a welcome return to normal. As normal as the _Enterprise_ ever got, anyway.

* * *

><p>AN That's it! Thank you everyone again, for following and reading and reviewing! I'm glad you all enjoyed it and it made my week to hear everyone's feedback :)


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